In the distribution of electrical power, a bus bar is used to conduct electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation or other electrical apparatus. The bus bar commonly takes the form of a strip of copper or aluminum. Each current source electrically connected to the bus bar is fused.
Terminal units are used in a wide range of applications to distribute or combine current from a plurality of power sources. One application that is becoming more common is the combination/distribution of current generated by a plurality of photovoltaic source circuits associated with solar power generation devices, such as solar cells or photovoltaic arrays. A terminal unit is used to combine multiple photovoltaic source circuits to produce a single combined output circuit.
A conventional terminal unit including a “comb” bus bar may be assembled in the following manner. A din rail is mounted to a back plane of a panel. Next, fuse holders are snapped onto the din rail. The fingers of the comb bus bar are inserted into respective fuse holder openings and torqued to fuse holder specification to secure the fingers thereto. The bus bar is then mounted to the back plane using standoffs. Incoming wires are inserted into each fuse holder socket and torqued to the fuse holder specification to secure the incoming wires thereto. One or two large cables are attached to the bus bar via a wire lug. If “touch safe” operation is desired, then a large plastic (e.g., plexi-glass) protective cover is mounted over the entire terminal unit to prevent contact with conductive elements.
The present invention provides a fused combiner/distribution bus bar assembly that provides “touch safe” operation without the use of a protective cover over the terminal unit.